Biography

Dorothy Smith was born in England in 1926. Starting out in the career world in her early 20’s, her goal was to work in the book publishing industry. However, she was unable to be successful in that industry without a degree. So, the path toward a degree led her to the London School of Economics, sociology intrigued her and she earned a degree in it. During her time at the London School of Economics she met Bill Smith, whom she married. As a married couple, Dorothy and Bill opted to move to the United States to both earn graduate degrees in 1955.
Their school of choice was the University of California at Berkeley. Dorothy Smith dealt with the responsibilities of children throughout her graduate work. In her first year at Berkeley she suffered through a miscarriage. Eventually she had two children, both boys; the second was born 9 months before she finished her doctorate. Around a third of the way through her graduate work, Dorothy and Bill both took their comprehensive exams. Interestingly enough, Dorothy passed hers and Bill failed his. At this time Bill Smith dropped out of graduate school, and three weeks before Dorothy finished her thesis her husband left her.
For the next few years after obtaining her doctorate (1964-1966), as a single mother, Dorothy Smith worked as a lecturer in the sociology department at the University of California Berkeley. At this point in her life Dr. Smith was having difficulty caring for her children because widespread daycare was not something offered then as it is now. This difficulty led her to move back to England and she was there for a couple of years. Unfortunately, she and her sons did not like England and Dr. Smith was feeling overworked. So, she chose to move yet again, but this time to Canada.
Dr. Smith taught at the University of British Columbia, where she taught one of the first Women’s Studies classes. While at the University of British Columbia she formed a women’s action group and was very involved in women’s research. In 1977 she decided to teach in the sociology department at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Here she was able to form her own sociology; a sociology for women. Throughout the 1970’s Dorothy Smith devoted her time to written this sociology. She notes in her own autobiography that in 1987 she discovered that she could publish on her own and began publishing an increasingly number of papers and books. Another academic of interest of hers has been institutional ethnography, which works on the objectives of a sociology for people.
Dr. Dorothy Smith describes her current status in life as: “Too much.” She responds to requests to speak and is in the process of writing a book. She does child sitting for her seven year-old granddaughter. She wants to get a puppy this summer. Additionally she does mostly unpaid work with students. Dr. Smith spends a lot of time reading stuff that is related to her research, and she enjoys mysteries and poetry. She goes to the gym almost every day. A hobby of hers is gardening. Additionally, she ponders the impact of climate change on our environment and is disheartened about that.

References

Smith, Dorothy. “A Berkeley Education.” In Gender and the Academic Experience, edited by Kathryn P. Meadow Orlans and Ruth A. Wallace, 45-56. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.

Smith, Dorothy. “Email Interview by Sierra Powell,” April 2007.


Smith, Dorothy. “Dorothy Smith.” http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/mdevault/dorothy_smith.htm